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Anita Sarkeesian’s First ‘Tropes vs. Women in Games’ Video May Come Out Next Month

Roto13

Member
Words can't express how much I want her to prove all her critics wrong. Nobody deserves the shitstorm she went through.

Knock 'em dead, Anita.

I would love for her to provide thoughtful, sensible commentary on how women are portrayed in video games, but I don't think she's capable of it, based on her other YouTube videos.

This is a topic that deserves to be taken seriously, and her initial idea is a good one. For someone else.
 
No, most people made the donation to make a point. Even if she sucks at the video a significant majority won't do anything of the sort.

It'll make some people laugh tho.

Nah, I think there will be a large number of people who bought into this because they want to see good videos on the subject, and frankly I expect TvWiG to be terrible, bad enough to get aforementioned group of people demanding refunds. Let's be honest here: the concept seems half baked, studying any media in terms of "tropes" is an idea that frankly deserves mockery and Anita Sarkeesian's track record is frankly poor. I'd far rather see Extra Credits' take on the subject.
 

BosSin

Member
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, I'll watch one episode... If it just turns out to be picking out minor details in a game and projecting them in a massive light to serve her own opinion. I will go no further.

I feel that there are much bigger problems with video games. Such as using the same old tired story of the hero American vanquishing his foes. In the process killing dozens of Muslims, Russians, Germans or Zombies.
 

Platy

Member
I would love for her to provide thoughtful, sensible commentary on how women are portrayed in video games, but I don't think she's capable of it, based on her other YouTube videos.

This is a topic that deserves to be taken seriously, and her initial idea is a good one. For someone else.

Her other youtube videos were not made with DAT BUDGET
 

rvy

Banned
Wow not only did she not do her research but also manage to insult every male gamer who actually likes the game.


Yeah I don't think that she is the right person to talk about women in video game or in media at all.

That French lady is right. But posting that French lady will get me banned for the 5th or 6th time.

God bless you, French Lady.
 

Nert

Member
According to her twitter she isn't enjoying video games at all.

you know, all the most popular blockbusters from the last decade

that she bought with the donations

because she never played them before

Knowing how these threads go, I should have provided something to back up my claim. My mistake. From an interview that she had with Gamespot a while back:

I included those sequences from Mirror's Edge and Portal for a few reasons. On one level they are there because I love those games. On another level, both characters are women of color, and both serve as the protagonists of their own games without being overly sexualized or objectified, which may be partially due to the first-person perspective, but still it's something to celebrate. It's also worth noting that in addition to the female protagonists, both games worked to creatively expand the first-person/shooter genre--a genre overflowing with lackluster clones. Both employed interesting underdog plots, innovative gameplay mechanics, and emphasized less violent creative problem solving instead of brute force.

This quote is also relevant for the people who think that she's saying you should feel guilty for playing video games:

It's also really important to me that my viewers understand that engaging with media is not always an all-or-nothing situation. We can play and enjoy many games while simultaneously being critical of some of their harmful aspects. We can recognize and point out the more problematic representations without necessarily throwing the whole game out, though god knows there have been a handful of occasions when I've been tempted to use a particularly sexist game as a mini Frisbee out my window.
 

Nert

Member
I feel that there are much bigger problems with video games. Such as using the same old tired story of the hero American vanquishing his foes. In the process killing dozens of Muslims, Russians, Germans or Zombies.

Luckily, this isn't an either-or proposition. You don't have to choose just one problem to address if several things are important to you. Somebody being more passionate about a particular issue also doesn't invalidate other issues. Writing and characterization in video games can be less shitty across the board if enough people cared!

How much budget do you need to play a game and think about it?

She set her original Kickstarter goal at $6000 (obviously, people decided to pledge more than that). If you still think that she asked for too much, that's your opinion and that's fine, but this process entails a lot more than "playing a game and thinking about it."
 

Platy

Member
£5 Steam game of your choice says she won't.

Thanks ! =D

LzVYPR9.jpg

8dEMETt.png


Any game I don't game I don't have it is good ...
http://steamcommunity.com/id/platynews/games

McPixel, Hero Academy and others all are all £3 ... so if you want to save money ...

=P
Don't worry about it
 
You didn't see her Bayonetta video, huh?

She has great points in the Bayonetta video. I think it deserves a little more exploration but I would be a little dismissive too if I was made aware of that sub-way ad campaign before making the video. Bayonetta walks this line between being an empowered female Dante and the disproportioned realization of a creepy man's sexual fantasy.
 
Thanks ! =D



8dEMETt.png


Any game I don't game I don't have it is good ...
http://steamcommunity.com/id/platynews/games

McPixel, Hero Academy and others all are all £3 ... so if you want to save money ...

=P
Don't worry about it

The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. And I'm fairly sure that's "problematic", not "positive".

Right, time to formalise the bet: I bet one Steam game to the value of £5 sterling that there will be at least one episode of TvWiG which does not have any positive examples. Deal?
 

Platy

Member
The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. And I'm fairly sure that's "problematic", not "positive".

Right, time to formalise the bet: I bet one Steam game to the value of £5 sterling that there will be at least one episode of TvWiG which does not have any positive examples. Deal?

Deal

That is one bet that will take a GOOD while to end .... please remind me when you see a video that you don't think it shows a good example

Budget doesn't make someone smarter or less of a martyr.

She had to work while doing those videos ... she have all time in the world to research now
 

sleepykyo

Member
Deal

That is one bet that will take a GOOD while to end .... please remind me when you see a video that you don't think it shows a good example



She had to work while doing those videos ... she have all time in the world to research now

Isn't she doing the guest speaker circuit right now?
 

Vamphuntr

Member
How about she talks about RE2 too if she wants to talk about escort missions. In RE2 Claire takes good care of Sherry and it is an escort mission where a female character is doing the escorting and she's actually strong and resourceful.

I fear she will take a stab at RE4 for the wrong reason and blame the whole series as a whole when you have a series with strong women (Jill, Ada, Rebecca, Claire, Sheva, Sherry).
 

Strife91

Member
original.jpg


Great lesson. Know we know that the next time a woman in a game is in distress we shouldn't save her. Because that would be sexist.
 

GrizzNKev

Banned
Deal

That is one bet that will take a GOOD while to end .... please remind me when you see a video that you don't think it shows a good example



She had to work while doing those videos ... she have all time in the world to research now

Clearly.

That's about how long it takes to catch up on an entire generation of gaming.
 
She had to work while doing those videos ... she have all time in the world to research now

That entirely wasn't their point though. The problem is with how she constructs her arguments.

No amount of money is going to help you construct a better argument.
 
So, girl that does no work on her own, asks pubic, mostly males (thus making her portray the damsel in distress) for money for her to bring to light the issues of the same things she's fighting against.

im-okay-with-this.png



Let's see how this works out.
 

Lambtron

Unconfirmed Member
Right, time to formalise the bet: I bet one Steam game to the value of £5 sterling that there will be at least one episode of TvWiG which does not have any positive examples. Deal?
Well, given there are a hell of a lot more negative tropes about women in games than positive tropes about women in games, why should she mention something positive in every episode?

The refrain of "oh this is an important topic, but she's not up to the task" is extremely shitty. No one else is doing it. Many of the people who are against this project IMMEDIATELY started threatening her with violence or trying to rip her character. They didn't give her a chance to do it. They're all just waiting for her to fail. It's pretty gross.

If you think the videos will be bad, I assume you didn't contribute. But how about you let her put something out, and then we have an intelligent discussion about it?

So, girl that does no work on her own, asks pubic, mostly males (thus making her portray the damsel in distress) for money for her to bring to light the issues of the same things she's fighting against.

im-okay-with-this.png
That's a pretty fine straw man you have there. This is not, at all, how this happened. The Kickstarter was initially sent through the feminist blogosphere. Eventually someone found it and had their poor little man feelings hurt, and she was almost immediately villified at that point. Most of the donations came in as support well after it had reached its funding goals because she was being treated like shit.
 

kaioshade

Member
Well, given there are a hell of a lot more negative tropes about women in games than positive tropes about women in games, why should she mention something positive in every episode?

The refrain of "oh this is an important topic, but she's not up to the task" is extremely shitty. No one else is doing it. Many of the people who are against this project IMMEDIATELY started threatening her with violence or trying to rip her character. They didn't give her a chance to do it. They're all just waiting for her to fail. It's pretty gross.

If you think the videos will be bad, I assume you didn't contribute. But how about you let her put something out, and then we have an intelligent discussion about it?

No one else can do it.

They didnt get 150k
 
Well, given there are a hell of a lot more negative tropes about women in games than positive tropes about women in games, why should she mention something positive in every episode?

The refrain of "oh this is an important topic, but she's not up to the task" is extremely shitty. No one else is doing it. Many of the people who are against this project IMMEDIATELY started threatening her with violence or trying to rip her character. They didn't give her a chance to do it. They're all just waiting for her to fail. It's pretty gross.

If you think the videos will be bad, I assume you didn't contribute. But how about you let her put something out, and then we have an intelligent discussion about it?

Bullshit. Every other feminism activist is doing it, they just aren't limiting their scope to video games because these tropes are not exclusive to them.

Edit: And to expound on one thing, I wish the money had gone to any of them. They would probably have criticism beyond simply pointing out tropes.
 

iammeiam

Member
No one else can do it.

They didnt get 150k

But according to many of the morally outraged posts about the sheer ridiculousness of the 150K number, somebody should easily be able to do a better job for free! They're just YouTube videos, they shouldn't cost much to make! Ever asking for money in the first place was her first mistake!

Seriously would be interested to see somebody actually step up and do it better, for free, since apparently that should be easy.
 
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